New WTO Permanent Representative announced

Foreign Minister, Murray McCully, has announced diplomat Dr David Walker as New Zealand’s next Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in Geneva.

“The WTO is of fundamental importance to New Zealand.  WTO rules provide the bedrock of all international trade and therefore also underpin the network of free trade agreements that New Zealand has successfully negotiated over the last two decades,” Mr McCully says.

“As Permanent Representative, Dr Walker will have the job of ensuring New Zealand’s interests are advanced and maintained, particularly in areas such as agriculture and services.”

Dr Walker was most recently Deputy Secretary Trade and Economic at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade.  He was Chief Negotiator for the Trans-Pacific Partnership and also for the New Zealand/China Free Trade Agreement.

As New Zealand’s Permanent Representative to the WTO from 2009 to 2011, he represented New Zealand in the Doha round of multilateral trade negotiations, and was appointed Chair of the Doha round negotiations on agriculture.